labyfic / Challenge #36: Some Attention Required

Title: Some Attention Required
Summary: In which Professor Sarah encounters an unexpected decor. Written for the prompt “Makeover”.
Word Count: 985

I turned the corner, busily tapping out an email response on my smartphone, and stopped dead.

This...was not my department hallway. For one, there was far too much glitter. I’d never actually seen iridescent walls before, but the glitter was doing its best to make every surface radiate light. And then there was the velvet. Billowing. Everywhere.

It was oddly reminiscent of something, but damned if I could put my finger on it.

I blinked hard. Nope, still there. Okay, then.

When faced by the unexpected, a sensible professor of linguistics who also chairs her department does not lose her head. I continued blinking slowly, and the shadowy recesses resolved into office doors. Ah, there was mine, nestled as it always had been between those of my trusty colleagues. Even if the sign with my name next to it was a starry purple velvet that seemed to ripple and shift color as I stared at it.

The door to the right of mine was slightly open, with an otherworldly glow streaming from it. I strode over and knocked. “Hey, Greg?”

“Ah, Sarah, you’re in! Thank god. You see this too, right? I’m not crazy?”

“Nope. Not crazy. Do we know what the hell happened here?”

“Nope. I called Facilities and left a message, but no one’s responded yet.”

I let myself into his office and plunked down into a sprawling throne-like leather guest chair with clawed feet. “This is nuts. I mean, I know we asked for money to redo the department, but even if it got approved, they’d have to consult us before doing anything, right?”

Greg steepled his fingers. “One would think.”

“Hmmph. Let me try calling Facilities. Maybe they’ll answer my number.” I had them on speed-dial these days with all the remodeling plans we’d been trying to get funding for. “Hi, yes, can I speak to the manager? What do you mean, the manager’s out? For how long? Well, who’s in charge over there? What do you mean he doesn’t do phonecalls? What the hell does he do? Oh, for fu-...fine. Yes. I’ll be there in five minutes.” I hung up.

Greg raised his eyebrows.

I sighed. “I don’t know either, but I’m sure as hell going to find out.”

Greg saluted me as I stomped out.

~~~
The door to the Facilities head office swung open, revealing swirls of glitter, swaths of velvet, and a throne with clawed feet hidden in shifting shadows.

Apparently I need look no further for the stylistic inspiration for the department redecoration. But the throne was empty. “Hello? Is anyone here?”

The door whisked shut behind me, and a whisper of motion made me whirl towards it.

Well. That explained some things. At least, in a world where the impossible decided to pop by and stick its perfectly gloved thumb in things.

I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten all about what happened when I was a teenager. But that’s life. You get older, you forget. At least until something reminds you. Which the smashingly attired goblin king leaning artfully against the wall with his arms crossed had clearly intended.

“Hi,” I said. “Long time, no see.”

He arched a perfectly sculpted eyebrow.

I didn’t have time for games this morning, immortal Faerie lord or no. I crossed my own arms. “What?”

His voice rolled across my skin, thrumming with suggestion and menace. “That’s it? After twenty years of oblivion?”

I arched an eyebrow at him. “What exactly were you expecting?”

He shrugged one shoulder with perfect grace. “A little awe might be in order.”

“Awe? Seriously? You just screwed up my department image in one glittery, velvety swoop. I want it fixed.”

“Fixed?” He looked affronted.

I snorted. “Yes, fixed. It’s not a professional aesthetic. I want my department to project ‘We do cutting edge language science here’, not ‘Welcome to my 80s club lair’.”

His brows drew together. “You thought this aesthetic looked well enough before.”

“When I was fifteen. And not running a department at a top research university.” I sighed. “Honestly, you couldn’t have thought this would go well. Not really. So what’s going on?”

His lips twitched in the barest hint of a smirk.

“You know, my five-year-old nephew looks just like that when someone catches him doing some mischief or other. So, spill it. What do you want?”

He leveled a smoldering look at me and leaned forward. “Your attention.”

Uh huh. I’d had male students try the same tactic a few times when wheedling for grades. I admit, it worked better when the smolderer-in-question was a smoking hot Faerie lord from your youth. My breath caught a little. “Well, you have my attention. So now what?”

“I would like to maintain it. Oblivion’s not all it’s cracked up to be.” He leaned closer still, and the spiced winter scent of him curled through me right down to my toes.

I let myself lean a little closer, my voice dropping to a whisper. “That’s all you want? My continued attention?”

He nodded, his eyes catching mine in full-on come-hither as his mouth moved within a breath of mine.

Helloooooo, nurse. “Fine,” I murmured against his lips. Then I pulled back abruptly. “Let’s start with coffee.”

He blinked. “Coffee.”

“Yes, coffee. Which is a fine way for friends to discuss things, maintain mutual attention, and in this case, make plans to update my department's decor to something more appropriate.”

He tilted his head, regarding me silently for a moment. “You’re relentless. So focused.”

“I learned something when I was fifteen, didn’t I? How not to be distracted.”

He smiled. “You haven’t changed a bit.”

I tilted my head back at him. “Have you?”

“Perhaps we should have that coffee and find out.”

“Your plan is a fine plan. The local Starbucks has this great new cold brew thing.”

His laughter rippled against my skin as he held open the door. “Do let’s.”